Carer change into criminal justice roles

[Richtea67]

Hi, I am early 40's and have a fairly specialist clinical role in NHS. Although I do enjoy my job and find it rewarding I am really interested in roles in criminal justice/law. Had anyone (at my age) made this transition? I've always thought I should have been a police officer, but was dissuaded from going into this when I was younger. My current job is part time and I have two young children, my youngest will be starting school in a couple of years which will give me some more flexibility. So I would need a role which could work with family life! Any ideas or experiences would be appreciated.

Hi, I moved into a prison based role in my 40s after moving from the charity sector and loved it. Having said that, prison working isn’t for everyone and it depends on the type of establishment as not every prison is the same.

If you live close to an establishment there are lots of different roles available to civilian staff if you weren’t thinking of an operational role such as a prison officer (both HMPPS roles and partner agencies such as drug and alcohol services, healthcare etc). Administrative roles may work better around family life as these offer flexitime.

Feel free to message me if you have any questions.

I did, became a Probation Officer. Look at the PQiP program, you get paid to get a degree whilst working and they really encourage older recruits with some life experience. Your clinical work would probably be ideal.